I've always had a fond spot for cast iron despite it's bulk, weight and the fact that it's high maintinence especially in a place like Acapulco. There's not much for sale as far as cast iron is concerned here so when I see something I generally get it, like the beautiful enamelled pot with matching lid shown above. I love it so much I want a blue one, too.

Now since so much goes right when you cook with cast iron it's only natural that so much can go wrong. I have had one other enamelled one shown below and as you'll see the care isn't super simple, although it is easy if you know what to pay attention to.

This is 5 years old and has seen better days. It's missing a handle from a killer speedbump that took the entire contents of the cooler on the way down to Acapulco through Mexico.

It's not easy to break a cast iron handle off, but it happens.

This is what happens when you do both of the enameled cast iron no-nos: metal tools and boiling it dry, meaning it got heated without anything in it. I also burnt the shit out of rice on a cast iron stove like 200 times in this thing.

I don't remember how it lost it's screw on handle but it happened a long time ago.

This is a recent addition as well, a burger press that's also great for bacon.

A seriously forgiving griddle I've had just as long as that red dutch oven. Seriously reliable, worth bringing it from the US to Acapulco in my opinion.

This is a pan I got just before leaving Detroit and one I'm glad I got. I seriously love it and use it daily.

A slightly rougher textured pan I got here in Acapulco.

As you can see I love cast iron. It's useful for so many reasons flavor just being one of them. If you know how to treat them these pans will last forever and they're the only pan you can bring back from a ruined state, something appealing to me.